Summary

Chapter 1 opens with an item on Patina Jones' to-do list. The opening line is “TO DO: Everything (including forgetting about the race and braiding my sister's hair)". She explains that the term “false start” in track is misleading because it indicates that someone faked a start. She says a false start is really just “a real start at the wrong time." Her friends Lu and Ghost were at the starting line for a race and Patina initially thought Ghost was off to a perfect start, but he actually began running too soon. He did not realize what happened and ran the entire distance before Coach walked him back to the starting line. He still manages to take first place. Patina takes the track for the 800, and expects some of the other girls to begin tiring before the end, but instead finds herself pushing...